Here’s how to protect your time when you keep getting interrupted at work

Once you put out a fire at work, there always seems to be another one looming around the corner, threatening to steal your time away — yet again.

Here’s how to guard your time when you’re dealing with constant interruptions and a full workload.

Do this when your talkative coworker keeps stopping by

If the old headphones trick doesn’t work, try this fix.

It’s called the FlowLight, a “traffic-light like LED” that shows those around you how busy you are at any given moment using the colors red, yellow and green. An app also runs on your computer and indicates your availability online.

Don’t have the resources or the bandwidth for a device like this? Try approaching your nosy coworker face-to-face instead, and communicate how their probing questions can make you feel uneasy. Sometimes being direct is the best way to go, even if it’s far from the easy way out.

Here’s what to do when you can’t focus at your desk

Try popping in some headphones to tune out the noise, or moving to a conference room to work.

Take advantage of your office’s calendar system and book a room to work in if you’re able to. It might just give you a leg up when coworkers break into a heated debate by your desk about which of the 2018 Oscars nominations will win in each category, or people get riled up over politics.